Agenda item

An item of urgent business was considered within the meaning of Section 100 B(4) of the Local Government Act 1972. There was consideration of the formal response by Newcastle Borough Council and Stoke-on-Trent City Council to the draft recommendations by Trust Special Administrators (TSA) for the Mid Staffordshire Foundation Trust.

A Member requested it be minuted that the document was not representative of the views of the Committee. There was agreement to this by the full Committee.  

The Chair advised that the Borough Council had facilitated the opportunity for residents to express their views, and Members views had been channelled through the County’s Healthy Staffordshire Select Committee.

The Head of Business Improvement and Partnership advised that the document was the same as had been provided to the TSA and was a combination of the engagement work the Borough Council had undertaken and the responses the City Council had received from organisations in Stoke-on-Trent. As the consultation had closed, it was a background document and the Committee were being asked to focus on future arrangements, and the scrutiny and oversight of these. A provisional date for a special Council meeting on 13 November had been set aside, for the Council to consider whether a joint committee should be established between the Borough Council and Stoke City Council and the Committee were being asked to put forward their views in regard to this proposed arrangement.

A Member was disappointed that there was no response from the North Staffs Clinical Commissioning Group and that there had not been more involvement from Borough Councillors. Moving forward, the Member felt that Borough councillors should be kept informed of developments. The Member felt it important that the influence of the Committee should not be underestimated and the issues in Newcastle were different to those in Stoke-on-Trent and North Staffordshire. In response, a Member felt that pressure could still be placed on the County Council and the Committee could advise Stoke. Another Member considered that the concerns detailed at the beginning of the document should be expanded and pressed going forward to ensure they were addressed.

Some Members felt that monitoring should be conducted jointly with Stoke City Council as it was a unitary authority with appropriate officers to support an overview group. Another Member felt that monitoring should be conducted on behalf of residents and therefore by the Borough Council alone. Although Members of the opposing view questioned where the resource would come from for the Borough Council to do this.

The Head of Business Improvement and Partnerships sought to clarify that the decision to undertake a public consultation was the result of a motion at the last Full Council meeting and that the Borough Council had been unable to produce similar documents to the ones from Stoke City Council as the Full Council had been unable to agree to a position at its last meeting.

The Portfolio Holder for Stronger and Healthier Neighbourhoods suggested joint scrutiny was the best way forward as Stoke City Council had the resource to support the scrutiny and the majority of patients were from across North Staffordshire.

Members then considered that clarification of the remit of the proposed joint committee was required before a recommendation could be made by the Committee. The Committee considered that although a date had been set aside for a special Council meeting, they did not need to make a decision at this meeting. A Member stated that the date for the publication of the TSA report on the consultation had been extended to 26 November and felt that a decision about the proposed joint committee could not be made until this report had been published. They suggested that the Committee could re-consider the joint scrutiny proposals at its meeting on 20 November with more information to be made available, and then a full debate could take place at the established Council meeting of 27 November.

Cllr Loades requested that it be recorded in the minutes that he did not support a joint committee with Stoke-on-Trent City Council.

A Member suggested that a governance structure should be established in order for the Council to work with the City Council and potentially with other district councils in the future if similar circumstances were to occur.

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY:         In light of a recent change of circumstances, the Health Scrutiny Committee should not make a recommendation at this time on whether the Committee believes a Joint Committee should be setup with Stoke-on-Trent City Council, to oversee the implementation arrangements at University Hospital North Staffordshire resulting from operational changes to the Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust.  Further information should be sought from Group Leaders regarding the remit, governance arrangements and practicalities for a Joint Committee and this information should be reported to the next meeting of the Health Scrutiny Committee currently scheduled for the 20 November.